This bus is one of the MAX fleet serving metro Birmingham. (The Birmingham News/Joe Songer)

Transit officials today began creating a plan to implement Birmingham bus route cuts set for January.

Members of the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority met to discuss looming cuts, plans for an orderly staff reduction and how to notify the public of the changes.

It was their first meeting since Mayor William Bell said the city had fulfilled its obligation to transit and accused the authority of inefficiency.

With a marker and dry-erase board, BJCTA director Peter Behrman did the math, including allocations and shortages that will leave the system broke without the cuts or additional money from the city.

Transit advocates blame the problem on the city's plan to give the authority about half the amount it gave last fiscal year, in addition to what they say is a reversal of a pledge from Bell to fund the BJCTA at $10.8 million, including $900,000 a month, for fiscal 2011.

Bell said it was not a reversal but the result of miscommunication. In September, Chuck Faush, Bell's chief of staff, told the authority board that Bell would recommend releasing to it $3.3 million for transit, in addition to paying the system $900,000 a month for to prevent service cuts.

But Bell says he has made good on his funding promise and that the $900,000-a-month pledge was for the calendar year, not the fiscal year, which extends until next October. Still, the BJCTA had included that figure in its latest budget after Faush's appearance. Without the expected money from the city, the BJCTA faces a $5.7 million deficit, Behrman explained.

"We will have to take $5.7 million out the budget," he said.

The City Council on Tuesday approved $900,000 for the system and Bell said he would recommend a final $900,000 payment next week.

Those dollars will complete funding for the calendar year, but not the BJCTA's fiscal year which ends in October.

Bell said he would form a plan where the city contracts with a private company to operate shuttles to replace the cut routes. He said it would be cheaper to operate smaller shuttles than the buses for lesser-used routes.

Transit authority chairman Brian Hamilton said Bell's shuttle service plan was an issue separate from the duties of the board, which must grapple with the loss of expected funding.

"I know we're talking about the bottom line, but I don't want it lost on anybody that we are impacting families at a tough time," Hamilton said, referring to both riders and transit workers. "I think what's fair to people is you let them know that tough decisions that have to be made as early as possible. This assumes there is no savior."

Board member Guin Robinson stressed that the staff must provide a detailed flowchart showing service changes, reduction in staff and when each change would occur.

Robinson and others board members, including Frank Galloway, also defended the system, saying they were not the "bad guys" but could only provide service with adequate funding.

"Funding for transit is not a bailout," said Robinson. "What we're asking for is, 'What level of service do our partners want?' "

Hamilton said the full board will meet in in a special called meeting to adopt a formal plan for the service cuts and employee layoffs.